Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Trademark definition

What does Trademark mean? In practice, a trade mark is the sign a business uses to distinguish its goods or services and to protect brand identity. In the UK (Trade Marks Act 1994) and Ireland (Trade Marks Act 1996), it is defined in statute as any sign capable of being represented on the register and of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of others. Signs include words, logos, shapes, colours, patterns, slogans and sounds. Registration (UKIPO or intellectual property Office of Ireland) creates an intellectual property right and confers exclusive rights to prevent unauthorised use of identical or...

US patent law: eligibility, patentability, ownership, enforcement, defences and remedies (archived)

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

Practice notes

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and not maintained. It was originally prepared for Lexis Practice Advisor®, in the US.

What is a patent?

Under the US Patent Act 1952 (Patents Act), patents are issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). A patent owner holds a time-limited right to stop others from practising the claimed Invention within the United States.

The most common form is the utility patent, typically claiming a tangible thing or a set of steps.

Design patents protect the ornamental appearance of an article of manufacture.
Plant patents safeguard a plant variety produced through grafting, budding, or comparable methods (rather than by seed).

Importantly, eligible subject matter must be stated in the Patent claim itself; a disclosure in the Specification alone is not enough. See Two-Way Media Ltd v Comcast Cable Communs, LLC, 874 F.3d 1329, 1338-1339 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 1, 2017) (not reported by LexisNexis®)...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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